Promise Made
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Promise Kept
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1. Institute a merit-based hiring process.
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The Foley administration issued an open and nonpartisan call for qualified applicants for all town management positions, and hired managers with unprecedented qualifications.
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2. Create a clear mission statement for Brookhaven Town government and for every department and every division.
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In order to create a sense of mission focused on delivering outstanding citizen service and creating open, honest, and responsive government, each department and division for the first time developed a mission statement detailing how the department runs and its goal for the future.
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3. Conduct a listening tour of Town Departments to seek input about how to improve efficiency from front-line service deliverers, empower town workers and create a culture of innovation.
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Supervisor Foley has held brown-bag lunches with Town departments in order to receive feedback and input on how the Town can be run more efficiently and provide a better work environment.
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4. Jump-start digital government initiative.
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Completely redesigned the Town’s website, www.brookhaven.org, making it more user-friendly, interactive, and transitioning more business online; Implemented the Q-Matic system in Town Hall’s lobby in order to dramatically cut wait times for residents needing Building Department services.
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5. Revamp acquisition process, end no-bid contracts and create stringent criteria for the purchase and use of all goods.
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The Town quickly moved to end no-bid contracts during early 2006 and create a formal and detailed bidding process for most Town purchases. For example, no-bid insurance contracts were ended, and as a result the town saved six million dollars over two years, while improving services.
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6. Institute ServiceStat, an innovative management system to end corruption and improve efficiency.
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The Supervisor visited Baltimore City officials in early 2006 to discuss the CitiStat management system that Baltimore uses. Brookhaven is now instituting ServiceStat, a management approach that sets quantifiable goals for town departments, analyzes data and provides accurate intelligence to deploy scarce resources. At each regularly held ServiceStat session, managers are questioned on their progress and held accountable for their performance. Already, substantial taxpayer savings and improved services have resulted, and that will increase with the expansion of the program in 2007.
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7. Call for a thorough and comprehensive external audit conducted by the New York State Office of the Comptroller, Division of Local Government Services and Economic Development.
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The New York State Comptroller’s office conducted a 3-month risk assessment, which determined that a complete and comprehensive external audit was needed. That audit is underway and will be finished by summer 2007.
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8. Create a rational capital budgeting process.
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A new Capital Engineering Division will be accountable for making sure each capital project is completed on time and on budget. The capital budgeting process was overhauled to bring accountability to projects, accurately project costs for each capital project, and stop chronic cost over-runs.
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9. Conduct an internal Performance Review within the first 90 days: examine the operating budget line-by-line and undertake a detailed review of all government programs, focusing on program needs, return on program investment, and quality of program management.
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Supervisor Foley had the Finance Department analyze every line-item in the budget. What was found was a budget consistently under-funded in some areas and over-funded in other areas. Town auditors then discovered that the Foley Team inherited $15.3 million in structural deficits. To put Town finances on the road to recovery, the town realistically budgeted for known fixed costs and created a real line-item budget for the 2007 fiscal year.
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10. Bring leadership that will improve people’s lives and safeguard their money.
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PROMISE KEPT!
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